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Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!
The next Weekly Bulletin will be published on Friday, December 5.
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Calling All Current CMU Student Entrepreneurs!
Announcing the 2026 McGinnis Venture Competition
& Social Enterprise Prize
Start your application by December 1 to receive a coach!
· Applications are now open for the 2026 McGinnis Venture Competition and Social Enterprise Prize!
The McGinnis Venture Competition is a platform exclusively for Carnegie Mellon University’s global community of student entrepreneurs, bringing together the best and brightest to compete for $60K in investments. All participants receive coaching, valuable feedback and an opportunity to raise capital.
This multi-round competition begins with two virtual rounds and will culminate in a final live-round celebration on March 17, 2026.
Social Enterprise Prize
Ready to create a company that makes an impact on the world's biggest challenges? The Swartz Center's Social Enterprise Prize is designed to empower students to develop entrepreneurial solutions for social and environmental challenges.
Register for the next virtual Info Session!
Come learn about the 2026 McGinnis Venture Competition & Social Enterprise Prize. Find out important deadlines and details.
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Register
Advanced registration required for the info sessions. Zoom details will be sent to registered attendees the day before the event.
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The Swartz Center Hosts Family Business Leadership Speaker Series Talk Featuring Henry Posner III
and Ida Posner
In the kickoff to the fourth year of the Family Business Leadership Speakers Series, Henry Posner III and Ida Posner, owners and leaders of the Railroad Development Corporation, captivated a packed house at the Swartz Center on Tuesday, November 18 as they explored what it takes to create a global enterprise in a highly consolidating industry.
The talk, which also included opening remarks given by Tepper School of Business Dean Isabelle Bajeux Besnainou, was moderated by Tepper School of Business MBA student and family business leader Shreyas Chavan.
Thank you to our sponsors: BNY Wealth, Swank Construction Company and Gemini Food Industries.
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|  | Meredith Meyer-Grelli (left) with Tepper Dean Isabelle Bajeux Besnainou, Henry Posner III and Ida Posner
| |  | Participants attending the Family Business Leadership Speaker Series talk
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|  | Motolani Oladitan (left), and Malikah Nathani (right)
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| Announcing the CMU 2025 Hack-A-Startup Winners!
The annual Hack-a-Startup competition is the largest, student-run competition at Carnegie Mellon University. This year's competition was organized by Master of Science, MIIPS students Dr. Shubhaa Chawla (Swartz Fellow, co-founder at Relayd), Nidhisha Voonna, and Ashwini Karanth (Swartz Fellow, founder of JuicyEV), Tepper School of Business. The winners for this year's competition are:
1st Place ~ $5K: Nail'd:
Malikah Nathani, Heinz/AI Management
Motolani, Oladitan, III/MIIPS
Summer Lee, Heinz/MISM
2nd Place ~ $4K: Oviact
Kousalya Mohan, III/MIIPS
Bhavya Kothari, III/MIIPS
Sri Bhamidipati, MS Public Policy Management - Data Analytics
Sara Han, ETIM/BME
3rd Place ~ $3K: MyoVerse
Yelim Kim, BME
Srija Chintalapalle, BME
Shriya Jejurkar, AIM
Congratulations to all of the winners!
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|  | Kousalya Mohan (left), Sri Bhamidipati, Bhavya Kothari, Sara Han
| |  | Srija Chintalapalle (left), Yelim Kim, Shriya Jejurkar
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OctaPulse Founder Paul Grech Awarded $10K as Ocean Exchange Collegiate Winner
CMU alumnus Paul L. Grech, Co-Founder & CEO of OctaPulse, was awarded $10K as an Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award winner. OctaPulse’s AI-powered inspection platform helps automate early-stage aquaculture by using computer vision to identify deformities, estimate weight and improve stock quality with over 90% accuracy—advancing efficient, sustainable fish farming.
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Dynamics Unveils The Authority™: The World's First All-in-One E-Commerce Platform for Vaulted Collectibles
Dynamics Inc., the leader in security and technology collectible platform innovation founded by Tepper School of Business CEO Jeff Mullen, has announced the launch of The Authority™, the world's first real-time, vertically integrated, multi-category collectible e-commerce platform.
Dynamics first spun out of Carnegie Mellon University as a manufacturer of flexible electronics, initially raising tens of millions to manufacture flexible electronics used in credit or debit cards.
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Announcing the 2025 Spark Grant Recipients!
Project Olympus and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship are excited to announce the recipients of the Fall 2025 Spark Grants! Awardees receive up to $3K in early-stage funding dedicated to helping founders reach significant milestones and accelerate from concept to reality. Congratulations to the awarded startups, we look forward to watching these founders build, grow, and make a significant impact!
Juicy EV: Founded by Ashwini Karanth (James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow)
Delivering mobile park-and-walk-away charging that maximizes uptime for Electric Vehicle fleets
Relayd: Founded by Dr. Shubhaa Chawla (James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow)
Pioneering a more streamlined documentation and communication tool for nurses.
Sancho: Founded by Chao Cao
Building human-assistive robots that enhance mobility in public spaces.
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Opportunity to Participate in National Survey Focused on Business Succession Planning!
NewEdge Wealth, a CMU Swartz Center patron, is inviting entrepreneurs and business owners to participate in a national survey focused on business succession planning and value readiness.
Your insights will help contribute to a comprehensive benchmark that sheds light on how businesses across the country are preparing for transition and maximizing long-term value. Whether you're years from exit or actively planning, your input matters.
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| Agilow Seeks Pilot Partners in Manufacturing
Meet Agilow, the voice-AI agent that facilitates asynchronous communication to reduce meeting duration, maintain kanban boards and automate KPI reporting.
A Swartz Center-incubated startup built by two Carnegie Mellon founders— Shiv Panjwani and Antonio Bojorges—with backgrounds in engineering management, Agilow develops cutting-edge solutions to remove the administrative burden of project coordination.
After completing successful pilots with Pittsburgh-based AI companies, Agilow is now expanding to more teams in Pittsburgh. If your company is seeking solutions to balance innovation with day-to-day operations, the Agilow team guarantees seamless onboarding and integration into your processes.
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| Bridging Discovery to Clinic: How AI and Digital Technologies
Are Transforming Therapeutics
Date: Sunday, January 11, 2026, 2-4 PM | PT
Location: San Francisco, CA
Are you innovating in biotech, pharma, medtech, or healthcare services—and heading to the 44th Annual J.P.M. Healthcare Conference in January?
Join the CMU Swartz Center for a special fireside chat on how AI and digital technologies are transforming drug discovery, reducing development risk and cost and opening new pathways from lab to clinic. Hear from founders, researchers and investors at the forefront of this shift.
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CMU Students! Apply to Participate in NexHacks by November 30!
NexHacks is the largest hackathon on the East Coast, and it is being hosted at CMU this Jan 17-18th, 2026 with 1,500 founders/builders hacking over 24 hrs and 100 VCs from a16z, Menlo, NEA.
Applications for students to participate will close on November 30th. Apply now to compete for $1M in cash/credit prizes from Cursor, Polymarket, Roam, Lovable, Vercel, ElevenLabs and so many more.
If you're a startup, there are sponsorship opportunities available for you to host a track!
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Applications for the Spring 2026 CSL Project Course are
Now Open through December 5!
Applications for enrollment in the CSL Project Course are open. Open to any Carnegie Mellon University Graduate student located in Pittsburgh. Acceptance into the course will be based on a completed application and interview with a course instructor on a rolling basis. Applications will close on Friday, December 5.
Find out more about the CSL Project course.
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LAW SEMINARS
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| Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
See the full schedule and register for ALL of the seminars here!
The CONNECTS Seminars have ended for the Fall semester and will resume in the Spring.
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START SMART LEGAL SERIES
12/2
REGISTER
How to Handle Your (and other's) Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property is an asset to be protected. This session will cover how to deal with IP issues.
All Fall 2025 Start Smart Legal Series sessions will be held virtually from 5:00-6:15 P.M. Start Smart Legal Series recordings will NOT be made available to the public due to the sensitive nature of the information shared. Program resources may be provided upon request at the discretion of the presenters.
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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| Click the images to find out more about each of the Clubs!
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The CMU T&E has a jobs board, available for people across the community to share and seek new opportunities in the startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Find out more and visit the website here.
The CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship group aims to build a bridge between CMU students and alumni across the startup and tech continuum. With main chapters in NYC, Pittsburgh, and SF, we offer a range of in-person and online events and programming in the form of panels, workshops, founder/investor engagements, startup support, and socials to foster collaboration, innovation, and
networking opportunities.
Join 7,000+ Tartans on our Slack workspace and mailing list for resources and updates on how you can engage in the community and CMU entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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| Pillsbury and Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC are holding office hours for the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. The office hours are for any interested CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni interested in entrepreneurship or connecting with members of the Swartz Center network.
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Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
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Legal Services Weekly Virtual Office Hours with Matt Kirmayer
Mondays 1:00-3:00 PM ET (10-12 PT)
Matt Kirmayer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, is offering office hours for newly established startup and emerging companies. Matt specializes in representing technology startups and emerging growth companies, assisting with entity formation, fundraising and overall growth needs. Startup companies with a founder who is a CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni is eligible to register for
an appointment. Complete the Signup Form for a 30 minute session by the Thursday prior to your
desired appointment.
Contact Daria Stokes or Sean Mawhinney for office hours outside of these regular hours.
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PwC
Our purpose—to build trust in society and solve important problems—is at the core of everything we do. It guides how we serve our clients, our people and the world. To help our clients build trust and deliver sustained outcomes, PwC provides professional services across two segments: Trust Solutions and Consulting Solutions. Within these segments we bring a range of capabilities to help organizations solve faster, solve more and realize more value. These capabilities include cloud and digital, deals, ESG, cybersecurity and privacy, governance/boards, risk, transformation, tax services and much more. Across our global network of more than 295,000 professionals in 156 countries, we are committed to advancing quality in everything we do.
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| HOW TO WORK OUT OF THE SWARTZ CENTER
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Swartz Center Education and Resources
No matter what phase of the entrepreneurship cycle you're in, there are programs and resources at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship that will take your idea to the next level. Find out more.
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COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES/RESOURCES
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FIND OUT WHAT OUR PARTNERS ARE DOING
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Have startup news or opportunities to share? Have questions about the Swartz Center Weekly Bulletin? Send news, opportunities or questions to Sonya Ford, Program Manager.
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Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center For Entrepreneurship
5000 Forbes Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
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